3.5

I am pleased with the number 3.5 for a couple of reasons.

First, I have officially moved to Illinois (the reason why my blog has been neglected for the past week). I am living on the third floor of my apartment building. It is the first time in my life where I am truly living on my own. While I am excited and nervous about this, I have liked it so far. I like my 3rd floor apartment, although it has no furniture right now (it is coming on Thursday).

Secondly, I am running 3.5 miles this week. I get to run for more than 20 minutes....yay! Although I am not running nearly as much as I would like to be, it feels good. Running makes me so happy...a feeling which is hard to explain 100% to a non-runner. Needless to say, with my move and running, I am pretty happy right now!

And lastly, I signed up to do a 5k back in Iowa on Labor Day, about 3.5 weeks away. It will be my first race since the Flying Pig in May. I am excited to race again, even if it is only a 5k. Originally, I was going to run the 1/2 marathon instead of the 5k, but with my stress fracture that isn't possible. I have not raced a 5k for about 3 years. I don't even remember my time from that race, but I was the first female to cross the finish line. It was a super small race for schools in the town where I went to college...I sure my time wasn't very fast, but it did feel great to be the first female to cross the line.

Tomorrow I get to go into my new classroom for the first time. I feel like a new chapter of my life has begun, and I am excited and so happy about it. Life is good.

"Do you still have all of your toenails?"

I recently had breakfast with an old friend and got to talking about running. Her friend runs a lot, and made a comment about how disgusting his feet were. She said he was constantly losing toenails. Then she asked me, "do you still have all of your toenails? Or...are your feet deformed?"

I told her that I never lost a toenail because of running, and hope it never happens. The thought of it just sounds like it would hurt a massive amount. Are my feet deformed? Well, I wouldn't say that they are lovely but they are not deformed either. Feet, in general, are rather not the most attractive body part.

This conversation got me thinking. Since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was always told to take special care of my feet. My first endocrinologists said that if I didn't have good control I would lose a toe or foot. If I wanted to keep my feet, I had to take care of them and my blood sugars.

Except, I never took (and take) care of my feet. I rarely look at them. They don't hurt and look fine when I wear sandals; however, I never take the time to examine them. It isn't a priority for me I guess. Even as I type this, a thought ran through my head about how maybe I should actually look at them, but it soon left my head. I guess I go on the philosophy that if my feet feel fine and aren't causing me any trouble, then they are fine.

Maybe I'll look at my feet tomorrow when I get my pedicure while I am picking out the new color I would like on my toes.